


These Blind Truths have Blind Ambitions

by shallograves



Series: Nivah [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angsty Harry Potter and pretty much everyone else, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Character Death, Creature Fic, Creature Racism, Dark fic, Dubious Consent, Dumbledore Bashing, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Friends to Enemies, Good Darkside, Good Severus Snape, Good Theodore Nott, Goodside bashing, Graphic Description of Corpses, Harem fic, Hate, I don't love your mother-severus snape, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Love, M/M, Major Character Injury, Major Original Character(s), Marking, Mates, Multi, Other, Powerful Draco Malfoy, Powerful Harry, Regular racism, Sex, Suicide Attempt, These Blind Truths, Third year and on, Torture, Unsure moments, Violence, creature coming out, fated mates, mention of suicidal thoughts, remastered fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-04
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-02-23 06:23:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23007139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shallograves/pseuds/shallograves
Summary: Something is happening to Harry Potter and the world isn't ready to face the repercussions of the darkness growing inside the 13-year-old.These Blind truths have Blind Ambitions.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini, Draco Malfoy/Theodore Nott, Draco Malfoy/Theodore Nott/Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy/Theodore Nott/Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini, Fred Weasley/ George Weasley/ Draco Malfoy/ Theodore Nott/ Harry Potter, Harry Potter/ Emi, Harry Potter/ Original Male Character, Harry Potter/Azure Krang, Harry Potter/Blaise Zabini, Harry Potter/Charlie Weasley, Harry Potter/Fred Weasley/George Weasley, Harry Potter/Tom Riddle, Neville Longbottom/Harry Potter, Theodore Nott/Harry Potter
Series: Nivah [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1848352
Comments: 49
Kudos: 232





	1. The darkness

**Author's Note:**

> Wow! Hi everyone! 
> 
> So about a year or so ago, I dropped my story called These Blind Truths, mainly because I wasn't happy where the story was going. Everything about it was going wrong and derailing from the original idea I had. So I put it to the side and decided to work on other things. But then about two months ago, I had this idea to adapt my planned sequel to These blind truths and make it part of the new story. 
> 
> Thus, These Blind Truths have Blind Ambitions was born. 
> 
> These Blind Ambitions was originally the sequel title to These Blind Truths and dealt with Harry coming into his powers as a Nivah and dealing with his new mates. I never released it, or the rest of These Blind Truths, but I hope you enjoy the kind of new baby those stories have birthed! 
> 
> Enjoy!

The room was drenched in darkness, the only light coming from the moonlight poking through the curtains. It wasn’t enough to chase away the shadows growing on the wall, or the fear that seemed to dig its claws into Harry Potter’s heart. 

It was such a silly thing, to be scared of the dark. Harry knew that in the long run, after the things he had seen in the last two years at Hogwarts, that there were more things to be frightened of in the big bad world. And before Hogwarts, Harry was sure he wasn’t as scared of the shadows as he was now. 

The shadows now had weight. 

This weight was currently crushing him, leaving him panting as he stared at the same spot next to Hedwig's cage. She was hooting softly, trying to calm her young master as he fought through yet another waking nightmare. For an animal she was quite intelligent, knowing that if she was too loud then his relatives would come in and hurt both of them. 

She didn’t want to be the reason her sweet master was hurt. 

“Please.” He whispered, pleading with the darkness to just go, to leave him alone. And for a second, he was sure that it would, especially as he was able to take another breath. 

But like always, the crushing feeling was intensified, leaving him sobbing and clawing at the sheets. 

For weeks this had been going on, and for weeks Harry suffered. It had started just before getting on the train for Hogwarts, the night before the leaving feast. Harry hadn’t even been asleep when he felt the crushing weight, the darkness drawing his attention as he tried to call for help. All he had been able to do was gasp for breath, barely able to move his fingers. 

By the time the first episode had played out, he had fallen into a fitful sleep, his dreams fluttering away from him when he woke up the next morning. 

This repeated almost every night, draining Harry of any energy he had. On the nights he didn’t have an episode, he had stayed up praying that it wouldn’t come when he slept. He was sure that if the darkness crushed him without him able to fight against it, that it would kill him. Paranoia became a good friend of his very quickly. 

Harry’s sleepless nights had started to become obvious to others as well, with Petunia leaving him alone during the day as he walked around like a zombie. Even Dudley had started to leave him be when Harry had just looked at him blankly as he was teased and taunted. 

It frightened both of the more reasonable Dursley family members. 

Vernon was a whole different story. 

The bulbous man had taken to taunting the gaunt appearance of his nephew, so much that Petunia had started to worry that they were really starving him. It wasn’t worry so much for Harry, but a selfish worry about what would happen if his “kind” were to find out he had started to resemble a corpse. So she had started to slip him food when her husband wasn’t looking, not knowing that Dudley was doing the same. 

It had almost brought a smile to Harry’s face, seeing them worry. But he didn’t, and possibly couldn’t, smile anymore. Every time he tried, he felt his skin tighten and any energy he had left him before he could force himself. 

All because of the darkness. 

Not for the first time, Harry felt anger at the presence. How dare it hurt him! How dare it try to do what not even the dark lord could! His fingers dug into his mattress, his teeth gritting as he tried to fight harder. It took so much from him to do this, to force himself to sit up. 

And with a small whimper, he was forced back down and this time, his body gave up. Slipping into the sweet oblivion that was sleep, Hedwig watched her master as the darkness that always loomed over him slipped away, leaving her precious charge pale and sickly looking. 

Something had to be done. 

  
  


_“Get up! Get up!”_

Harry didn’t recognize the voice as it whispered to him, his hand reaching up to touch his scar as it felt ready to burst. He hadn’t felt it like this, ever. It didn’t hurt so much, as it just felt… Heavy. 

Like the darkness had instead decided to press against his forehead and not his chest. 

_“You don’t have time to dawdle. Get up!”_ It was an obviously male voice, Harry realized. It wasn’t sweet in any sense like most female voices, but it wasn’t inherently manly like many of the males Harry had talked to before. It was younger, maybe even close to his own age. 

_“You can do this later, little one. You have to go. You’re in danger.”_ This caught Harry’s attention as he sat up, seeing that it was still dark. Fear of the darkness flooded him as he shrunk back, waiting for the darkness to attack him. And it was there, Harry could see it lurking in the shadows. 

But it was different. 

Were there hard been sharp edges and defined lines of the darkness that had attacked him, this was all sweeping curves and murkiness. It crouched down towards the ground, right underneath Hedwig's cage, one of its hands curling around the metal. Hedwig didn’t seem bothered by it like she normally was, even going as far as to sweep a wing against its inky skin. 

**_“GET UP!”_** The shadow bristled as Harry flinched, the voice screaming in his head. Now that did hurt, grabbing his temples as the shadow mimicked him, shaking with him as they both brushed off the pain from the shout.

A tug to his navel had Harry lurching out of his bed, stumbling a little. This brought him closer to the creature, shrinking back in fear. The creature didn’t mimic him this time, watching with a featureless face. 

_“Please... Harry. You have to go now. She is going to leave and if she leaves before we can catch her, we will die. Please.”_ We. Not him. Harry headed to the door as the words turned over and over in his head. We, not just him. 

Harry didn’t have much self-preservation, but he would do anything to keep someone else from suffering. 

Gripping the doorknob, he slowly tested it, sighing when it opened. It wasn’t really that late in the night as he could hear the telly downstairs, the whispering of the evening news. That meant his uncle was most likely nursing a whiskey and probably half asleep. 

It made this dangerous, and harder than he had thought it would be. 

Creeping down the stairs, Harry was quick to slide over the banister to avoid the creaky step, not wanting his uncle to hear. Landing on his feet, he shook the exhaustion from his head, his skin pale as he hurried to the front door. 

His hand touched the doorknob, turning it and pulling. Victory and hope bloomed in his chest before he felt the door suddenly being shut, a chunky hand above his head shutting it.

_“No…”_ The voice reacted before he did, the defeat in its tone making Harry cower. All of his Gryffindor bravery left him as he was forcibly turned by the hand, his uncles fat face in front of him, slowly turning purple. 

“And where do you think you’re going?” His words slurred as the smell of whiskey washed over Harry’s face. He couldn’t help the crinkling of his nose as he tried to not vomit, he hated the smell of alcohol. Especially whiskey. 

“No-nowhere uncle.” His voice shook as the man took a step closer, his fat fingers wrapping around his neck. Harry could see the purple extend across his neck, his wrist turning an angry red as he squeezed. Going limp like he knew he had to, Harry swallowed his fear as he looked up into the eyes of his uncle. 

“I said, where are you going, boy?” Pulling Harry from the door, he slammed him back, the wood creaking as he hissed. Pain lanced through his head as it bounced off it, a tiny noise torn from him. “What’s that boy?” 

“Nowhere unc..” The words were cut off as his uncle squeezed tighter, air denied to his panicking brain. Suddenly, Harry knew without a doubt that the voice had been right, he was in danger. 

God help him. 

“LIAR.” Slamming his nephew against the door a few more times, Vernon couldn’t contain the gleeful smile that crossed his lips as he threw the ragdoll boy to the ground. He watched as the freak tried to get up, to scramble away. And maybe if he had been sober, he would have let him crawl away to hide in his room. But instead, the alcohol made him stupid. 

Vernon’s foot landed on his back, feeling a very satisfying crunch and snap as the boy went limp under his considerable weight. 

Harry couldn’t move after Vernon stepped on him, unable to feel anything really. Cheek pressed against the wood, he knew his uncle was still hitting him, kicking him. And he knew his aunt was there, he could see her slippers as she stood at the end of the hallway. But he couldn’t move to see how she looked if she was horrified. 

Closing his eyes, Harry let the darkness take him, but not without first hearing the voice come back. 

_ “Just hold on. Help is coming.” _

**To be Continued...**


	2. Caroline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caroline is coming home from the bar after wallowing in grief after a fight with her mates but comes across a scene that will change everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!
> 
> Yeah, I know, another chapter?!? Well, I actually have the first like four chapters almost completed, so I am going to be posting each one as they are completed. After the fourth, the next few will take a bit longer and stuff. Anyway, enjoy this chapter. 
> 
> WARNING: This chapter does contain a mention of arousal when Caroline finds Harry, please keep in mind this will be explained later on in a chapter that will contain some very heavy stuff. It will all be tagged and I am going to make it so the scene in question can be skipped for that chapter. Just warning

The noise in the club was starting to get annoying, but Caroline knew she couldn’t leave. Not yet. 

There was a reason she had decided to go out and about alone. She had needed it badly, needing to get far away from the two tumors that had attached themselves to her and her mate for the last decade or so. 

It was humorous thinking of her other mates like that. And it wasn’t far off. They had been wholly unwanted additions to her mateship, even if Declan had been excited to have more to love. Caroline missed the days when it had just been the two of them when she could love every bit of her mate without having to listen to the bickering. 

The fucking bickering. 

Thinking about it made her hand tighten around her glass of vodka and cranberries, the glass cracking. Hearing the glass sliding against itself, she loosened her grip and gave the bartender a sheepish grin, reaching into her pocket for an extra five dollars. 

She had to watch her strength, especially around all the nomaj’s. 

“Can I get another?” She wiggled the still full glass at the man who just nodded, starting on her third drink of the evening. By the time he was done, she had drained the drink, setting down the glass and picking up the other he gave her. 

“Wow, you know how to drink.” The voice called out from across the short bar space, her eyes flickering to take in the male who spoke. He was handsome, his smile cocky in a way that years ago would have made her swoon. 

Now it just reminded her of Calem. 

Calem, the tumor who pissed her off the most, the man who made her want to commit murder almost daily. He had come first into the mateship, a dragimi soldier for the armies in the north. Coraline could almost remember the day Declan had brought him home, the way her little mate had beamed in joy as the man wrapped himself around what was hers. 

Henry had come a week later. 

Fuck, there went another glass. 

Looking down at the mess now covering her sequined dress, she pulled out a twenty this time and took the towel the bartender offered. He knew her and knew the accidents that tended to happen when she was around. Looking at the flirting male, she smiled viciously when she saw the paleness in his face as he looked anywhere but at her. 

Serves him right, Declan would gut him for touching me. 

Declan…

Thinking about her mate had her clicking her tongue, whining as she ducked her head. 

“Go home and grovel Coraline.” She looked up at the bartender, his sympathetic eyes beseeching her to listen. “I’m sure your husband will forgive you, for whatever you did this time.” 

“It’s not that simple.” And it wasn’t. She had messed up, bad. 

Coraline had always had an issue with controlling her temper, especially when it came to the others in the mateship. Declan had tried to help her find her place when the two came in and disrupted everything, but she let her anger get a hold of her most of the time. This time… This time she had done something she had never done before. 

She had screamed at Declan. 

Not in all of her fifteen years as his mate had she screamed at him. Sure she had raised her voice when he had overworked himself, or when he held things back from her, but never had she taken her anger out at him. 

“I’m sure it will be fine, go home. I’m cutting you off.” Before she could protest, the man left and she sunk onto the barstool, taking a few more minutes of her pity party. 

Fuck. Time to go to another bar. 

  
  


Coraline believed in a lot of things, and fate just happened to be one. 

It had been fate when she had met Declan. They had both been attending a healer's expo, with him as a healer and her as security for the event. She had been young then, barely into her powers and still getting a grip on being a lycanthrope. Sure she was going to be alone for the rest of her life, she hadn’t been looking for a mate. 

But Declan had been, and he knew it was her the moment he laid eyes on her brooding in the corner. 

_ “I think you should buy me a drink.”  _

Coraline wasn’t thinking about fate as she walked home from the third bar that had kicked her out, barely buzzed as her curse worked through the alcohol. She barely got drunk anymore, and anytime she did, it went away within minutes. It was the worst part of being a Lycan, but she figured it could be worse. 

She could have been bitten by a werewolf, forced to submit to the will of the moon. 

Instead, she was allowed to change whenever she wanted, much like a shapeshifter or animagus would. Outside the change, she was given superior healing and strength, but an inability to hold her temper and to have children. 

God, she wanted kids. 

The thought of kids was on her mind as she walked down the sidewalk, looking at toys left out by neighborhood children. 

Caroline was on edge as the moon was the only thing lighting up her path, the street lamps out. She knew that nomaj science and technology were infallible, but it still worried her that every lamp was out, not just a few. 

Even the house lights were doused. 

As she was deciding if she should apperate or not, she stopped, tilting her head back as her nostrils flared. 

Blood. 

The tangy smell was something she was used to, both with Declan’s being a healer and Henry being a vampire. And normally it didn’t bother her, but this was different. Sniffing the air, she had to put a hand over her mouth as she gagged, keeping herself from throwing up as she smelled what else was mixed in with the coppery scent. 

Fear, sadness, disgust. 

Arousal. 

Before she really could process what she was doing, Caroline headed closer to the scent. Letting her Auror mindset kick in, she pulled her wand out, the ash and unicorn hair mixture singing as she held it out. Quickly, she found the house, a number 4 privet drive. 

What happened next was a blur to her, instinct from the witch and Lycan side mixing as she stole away the source of the scent. 

Caroline believed in fate, but she wished she didn’t. 

  
  


“DECLAN!” 

The sound of Caroline screaming startled Declan out of his doze, the arms tightening around him as Henry and Calem both jerked awake. They had been napping while waiting for their wayward mate to return, but he didn’t think that she would be screaming still when she came back. 

“DECLAN I NEED HELP!” Hearing the fear in her voice, Declan elbowed and shoved the two males to the side, ignoring their moans of pain as he scrambled from the bed. Caroline never sounded scared, not even when she had been challenged to fight to the death had she sounded this frightened. 

Tripping over some clothes, probably Calems, Declan made it to the door just in time for the smell to hit him. Like Caroline, Declan had been able to harden himself to not throw up when smelling such an awful mixture of emotions. 

Calem wasn’t so lucky as he puked onto the ground next to the bed. 

Declan didn’t know what she was holding at first, thinking it was a large dog of some sort. But as he got closer, he saw the pale skin and the lanky arms, his eyes widening as he motioned to the couch. 

“Set him down.” Declan assumed it was a boy, given how small the poor thing was.” I need my wand. Calem! Bring me my wand! Where did you find him?” 

“In surrey, I was coming back the long way when I smelled him. I.. I don’t know how I got him out. Declan, I think... I think I hurt someone.” Caroline was shaking as she reached out to brush the hair from the boys face, the blood making it stick together. Most of it was drying, caked onto his skin. 

“You didn’t do this.” Declan reached out to catch her hand, not looking up when the shaking dragimi handed him his wand. Taking it after a few seconds, he started on the diagnosis spells, repeating them over and over again. 

He didn’t want any of what he was getting to be true. 

“Wh-what is it?” Henry asked from the bedroom door, his hands splintering the wood as he tried to keep his distance. Every part of his creature was screaming to feed on the boy, but he kept away, even if it took all of his strength and the dangerous look on Coraline’s face to keep him away. 

“I.. I need to call the council. And I need a Malfoy. Now. He… He is bound. Heavily.” Meeting each one of his mates' eyes, Declan saw them react to the news differently. Calem looked confused before a sort of dread filled his eyes, while Caroline and Henry both looked apocalyptic. Declan knew his expression would be filled with despair, his cheeks wet as he looked down at the boy. 

“Which ones?” Declan couldn’t answer either Caroline or Henry as they asked him, merely starting in on the few healing spells he knew he could use right then. 

Bound. Someone had bound this poor boy, none of them could stomach the thought of such a thing happening. Caroline had been in charge of a few cases where a bound individual was found, she had seen the aftermath of all the different types. 

Fear had left the victims too paranoid to question. 

Sickness was her least favorite, as she had watched them decay until there was nothing left. 

Hatred was sickening, as she had watched each of those victims kissed for the crimes they had committed while bound. 

But Death, death was the cruelest. She had only seen it once, with Malfoy's youngest son. She had been new to the Auror force when the alpha of the mateship had come in clutching his sobbing wife, demanding to know why the case had been shut. She had been the one to tell them because the binding of death had been put on their son, the case had been deemed too much of risk to pursue. 

Caroline had almost quit that day. 

“Which ones?” Henry asked again as Caroline allowed herself to dip into her memories. He needed to know, his fear of eating the poor child now pushed to the side for his need to protect him. This wasn’t his first mateship, his first having been destroyed due to a bound mate. 

Only Calem didn’t understand what was going on, the youngest of them all. 

“Hatred, Fear, and.. Death. I think. God, I’ve never seen them all so woven together. It’s like a cage.” Declan ran another diagnosis before he pulled the child up and into his arms. Trilling softly, he rocked back and forth, his Fae side mourning as the realization that there was nothing they could do for him set in. 

Even if they did heal him, this poor boy would never be the same. 

The sound of something crashing made him jump, his eyes flickering to where Henry was. Watching the normally composed man let out his beast as he destroyed their bedroom, it hurt Declan. He hated seeing anyone angry, but there was a special type of hurt seeing Henry mad. 

Trilling again, Declan could have sobbed when he heard another small trill answer his. In his arms, the boy was moving to comfort him, unconscious but reacting to the subtle cues Declan was giving out. 

The air filled with the smell of an omega trying to calm another omega. 

“Baby, it’s okay. I’m okay.” He whispered into the child's wild hair, kissing the damp curls. “Just rest. I’m here, we're all here.” 

Rocking back and forth, Declan reigned in his emotions, thankful for the healer training that he had. If he had been younger, he might have been broken by this, and he had the urge to check on the others. Calem was sitting near him, the dragimi’s head tilted down as he tried to reign in the beast side. Henry was calmer now but kept his distance as his red eyes glittered in rage. 

Coraline was gone, having slipped out to call the appropriate parties to try and save this boy's life. 

“How long has he been bound? Is there a way to save him?” Declan could have kissed his sweet innocent mate, looking at Calem as he beseeched him with his beautiful green eyes. Smiling softly, he hated to hurt him as he shook his head, watching the dragimi’s face crumple. 

“He has been bound for a while, at least with fear and hatred. I think he’s lived a long time with those, but Death was put on recently. Not more than a few weeks.” To think the child had lived so long with the binding of death… 

Declan could barely remember the first time he had seen the binding in action. While Caroline had seen the aftermath, Declan had watched a victim suffer through it. Watched as they slowly withered away into nothing, driven insane in ways that the fear and hatred bindings couldn’t accomplish. They talked of shadow creatures, a pressure crushing their chest as they tried to sleep. 

The darkness got them all in the end. 

A hush came over them all, the sound of Caroline talking a few rooms over the only noise. Even the boy had slipped back into a blissful sleep, or Declan hoped it was blissful. He wished with every bit of his magic that the boy was without pain as he slept.

It was a foolish wish. 

“The council asked to see him in a week if he is still alive. They don’t hold out hope after I told them the injuries, but you are the best healer the council employees Declan, with the Malfoy woman being second. They were out as well, so I left a message with Trixie the Snape man’s elf. Hopefully, they will get back to us before morning.” Caroline spoke as she reentered the room, holding her breath as she saw the state of the child. Holding out her wand, she banished the blood from both her mate and the child, smiling softly when she saw how handsome he was. 

He looked like a mixture of Delcan and Henry if they had birthed him. The child could have even been mistaken as Declan and Calem’s child if either of them had coal-black hair. 

“He’s so tiny,” Calem whispered, shifting closer. Normally, Caroline would have growled at him for getting close to Declan while she was around but…. She didn’t have it in her now. All she could do was watch as he pulled the child from her mates' arms and held him, his wide body making him look even smaller. 

It hurt so much to see how tiny he was. 

As they all fell into a quiet, each of the mates watched him with worried eyes. Like if at any second the child could stop breathing, and that they would have to bury him. Declan feared that more than anything, wishing the council would take him away so they wouldn’t have to bury the boy. How horrible it would be for him, especially with the life growing inside of him. 

Declan hadn’t told any of his mates yet, surprised that Henry couldn’t smell it yet with how many weeks he was along. He assumed it was because Henry wasn’t the father, and so he didn’t recognize the scent beyond knowing it belonged to Calem, probably thinking it was just the bond. Sometimes Henry complained about how much Declan smelled like Caroline and Calem, but not much like himself. 

A decade of being mates had muddled his omega scent. 

Getting up from the table, he shuffled over to Calem to run his fingers through the boy's curls, smiling when the child reacted. He was like an animal, the way he leaned up into the touch and made a small noise. All four of the mates couldn’t help but wonder at the same time if perhaps the boy was more than a wizard since they could all sense the magic he had. 

“What is that?” Henry asked, finally breaking the silence as he strode across the room, his eyes on the boy's forehead where Declan was pushing back his hair. Declan frowned and shifted to block the boy from the hungry man, ignoring the hurt look that crossed his face. “I’m not hungry for him, just his blood. I won’t bite him. I don’t think even if he was still bleeding I would.” 

“Why?” Caroline was on edge with how close he was to her… to the boy. Wand in hand, she was ready to stun him if he even let one fang pop. Giving her an exasperated look, Henry closed his eyes for a moment before letting them open, the red completely gone and replaced with his winter blue eyes. 

“Because my beast sees him as a baby, as our baby. Tell me you all don’t feel the same.” He turned to Calem first, whose eyes widened as he nodded and looked down at the child in wonder. How quickly their other sides had latched onto the child. 

It happened. Especially with children who were omegas, as this child was. A mateship would adopt them if the child was being abused, and a new bond would form around their own. Suddenly, the most important thing in the room wasn’t Declan, but the boy. 

Even if Declan hated it. 

Oh, he hated how as he looked inside of himself, he saw the thread that belonged to the boy firmly attached next to the thread that belonged to his child. He hated how he could see the boy woven into his family. 

He hated that he was going to die. 

“So I won’t hurt him. But I ask again, Dec. What is that on his forehead?” Declan finally looked down and froze, disbelief and fear mixing in a heady mix as he saw the lightning bolt. 

“Holy shit… This is Harry Potter…”

  
  



	3. Azure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So I know it's been a long time, but I will posting the next few chapters today and tomorrow. I have them finished. So yeah, anyway, this is the chapter when we meet another of the important characters for the fic!

“I’m so scared.” 

Eloise couldn’t breath, the crushing force of the thing sitting on her chest stopping any breath from really settling in her lungs. She didn’t even know how long she had been like this, just that it had felt like a lifetime. And it wasn’t going away anytime soon, she knew that. 

It had been like this night after night for weeks. The feeling of being crushed to death, only to wake up fine. The only proof that what she had been experiencing was real was the mark of a hand right above her heart, a black and purple bruise. 

“Please.” She begged inside her mind, unable to utter even a word. Tears leaked from the corner of her cinnamon colored eyes, spilling down her cheeks. 

Just let me die. 

_ “It’s going to be okay.”  _

That voice was new. Eloise’s eyes widened as it filled her head, and then her whole body with an almost beautiful feeling of escape. And almost like magic, though she didn’t believe in such a childish and silly thing, she felt the darkness that had been crushing her lift. 

For the first time in weeks, she could breath. 

“Thank you.” She whispered as her lungs expanded, sweet air filling her up. 

_ “Help is coming, just hold on.”  _

  
  


Azure Krang sat back with a tumbler of whiskey, two fingers of it to be precise, just like he had every night since he was old enough to drink legally. Swishing the liquid around, he let his eyes roam around the bar before settling back down at the very reason he was drinking in the first place. 

The fucking file. 

God it was mocking him, Azure tapping one of his long fingers on the manila envelope, the one that had been dumped on his desk as he was leaving the office.He never liked it when one was, because usually that meant horrible things had happened.

But Azure was in the business of horrible things. 

As an enforcer for the Council, he had seen things that had made his stomach turn, and for every time he had seen these things, he had also gotten one of these damn envelopes. 

“You know I’ve heard if you stare long enough at it, it will combust.” Azure almost groaned as that silky voice washed over him, like an oil bath. Turning his head, he took a quick glance at the woman who had settled in beside him, her long raven black hair brushing his arm. 

God, he was going to have to scrub himself clean when he got home. 

Azure didn’t play around with Wraiths, not even shockingly, and hauntingly, beautiful ones like Acosta Straus. As much as he would have loved to touch such flawless skin, he knew that that skin would wither and decay in just a moment's notice, leaving the woman beside him as a dangerous killing machine. 

Almost as much as he was. 

“Not a Dragimi or a fire Wraith, Costa. Gotta do it the old fashioned way if I want it to burn.” Picking up his lighter, he flicked it to light before wiggling his eyebrows at her, making that angelic laughter spill from red painted lips. 

“Do that and Archer will turn you into a newt or whatever those Wizards do.” She waved her hand in the air, not like she didn’t know exactly what wizards did. She had been the target of enough of those kind to know exactly what happened. 

And those who came for her knew what a Wraith could do. 

“Archer can kiss my ass.” Azure barred his fangs for just a second, making sure not to look her way when he did. He had made that mistake once, when he had been a rookie and assigned to the tempermental Wraith as a sort of hazing ritual. All new recruits went through her before they got their new partners. 

Or they had before Azure had come along and somehow got a long with the woman. 

“Uh oh, what did the man do now?” Raising a delicate painted finger, she motioned to the bartender, a short stout goblin dressed to the nines, for another round. The goblin didn’t hesitate, sliding down a beer for Azure and a goblet of something that smelled like blood for Acosta. 

Azure didn’t need to answer her question, opening the file and sliding it to her. What was inside was answer enough, a sharp breath taken between clenched teeth as she picked up the file. 

“Dear lord, Az. This is… This was one of ours.” It was the most emotion that Azure had heard coming from her for a while, that shaking quality her voice took as she read the file. 

Eloise Loris. Deceased. 

“Yeah, she was. Body didn’t take to the change, and instead of calling us in to handle it, they called in Summerton and Clause.” Not that Azure had anything against the healer and enforcer duo who normally handled cases like this, but this had been Azure’s case. 

He could still feel the little girl in his arms as he picked her up and carried her away from the room, his darkness slinking behind him with the girl's own darkness in it’s shadowy grasp. 

That had been five months ago, and Azure hadn’t thought about the girl much since that night. It was his job to help creatures in need, and to keep the peace, even if it wasn’t in his jurisdiction to handle changings gone bad. That was Summerton and Clause’s job, to go from house to house and make sure children who were close to coming into an inheritance had been properly educated and were going to be okay. 

But they hadn’t been near the house that night Eloise had started to come into her own, a child born to a wizarding family that had been killed in the first war. She had fallen through the cracks, and so no one had known to help her. 

To teach her what was expected and how to not fight the darkness. 

“Azure.” Acosta’s voice was soft, a whisper as she drew his attention from the glass of whiskey in front of him to his partner. And suddenly, he was sitting ramrod straight at the look on the Wraith's face. 

Sadness. 

“What’s wrong?” She had never gotten emotional like this before, and he felt panic settle in his gut at seeing tears leaking from her eyes. Holy shit she was crying? He had never seen her cry before, not even fake cry. 

“She was bound.” 

Azure felt something possess him as she spoke, tearing the file away from her. Ignoring the punch in the gut he felt at seeing the bold red words marking the girl as deceased, his eyes scanned the paper, searching for proof. And there it was, hidden in the medical jargon that had made him yawn. He had skimmed over it when he had read earlier, but now he soaked it up. 

_ Proof has been found that Miss Loris was the subject of a binding, though no evidence has been found of what type. It is not easy to determine if the death of Miss Loris is simply a biological anomaly that happens with inheritance or influenced by an outside source.  _

The words soaked into his skin and pulled him under for a frightening second. Loris. Eloise. She was gone, and sure he felt sad she was dead since she had been so young, but to know that she may have been murdered… 

It took everything he had not to unleash that tight hold he had on the darkness, feeling it there at his shoulders, a clawed hand gripping him. 

“I need to talk to Archer.” Getting up, he fumbled for his wallet, grousing when the card he was going to pay with slipped from his numbing fingers. It landed with a clatter on the bar, the goblin reaching out with long bony fingers to pull it across and slide it through the reader. 

“Please come again soon.”

  
  


The trip back to the office took less than fifteen minutes, Azure driving through the streets like a madman. He could have just used magic, but he needed the minutes it took to calm himself. To get a hold on the growling beast inside. It helped that Acosta slid into his car as he was leaving, her pressences oddly soothing as she let him growl and snarl into the air. 

By the time they got to the nondescript white building in the middle of Manhattan, Azure wasn’t so out of control. 

And thank fuck for that, because it was chaos as they opened the doors to the main floor, barely able to step out of the way as someone hurried past. 

“What the fuck?” Azure asked, watching as people pushed past one another, the thunderous crowd talking all at once. He had never seen it so packed, not once in the five years he had been with the council. Looking around, he sighed as he saw Archer and Gabriel, Archer’s partner, standing near the entrance to their department, both of the men’s faces grim. 

Slipping through the crowd, Azure let Acosta take the lead, as most people tended to move as far away from her as possible. Seeing the partner’s headed their way, Gabriel nudged Archer and pointed to them, the man nodding at something the darker shape shifter mumbled, Azure wishing he could have heard whatever it was as it made Acosta stiffen a bit. 

“Archer, what in the hell is going on?” Watching the man’s adam apple bob as he tried to speak, neither of them were able to get a word out, as a hush fell over the crowd. 

Turning to see what was going on, Azure was in awe at first at the beauty of the man who stepped up to the podium that was kept in the atrium of the building. He had only seen the Angeli once before, the golden skinned Angeli keeping to himself normally in the darker parts of the council building. But seeing him now, it brought that darkness inside of Azure backup, this time in concern. 

If the Angeli were involved, god help them all. 

“At midnight tonight in England, a young boy was brought to a mateship for healing by the protector. At approximately one in the morning, the healer and submissive of the mateship was able to confirm the existence of four different bindings, and the inheritance of the boy has already begun. I cannot stress the importance of this situation ladies and gentlemen,” The Angeli stopped to shift, the air behind him shimmering as his glamoured wings moved in discomfort. The whole crowd seemed to do the same, as no one liked to know of such a terrible fate that was handed down to anyone. 

Least of all a child. 

“The boy is still alive, and as such, it is our duty to him to find who has bound him and punish them. I cannot say who this child is, but I can tell you that fate will shine on him before his days are through.” Azure felt the power in the Angeli’s voice as it kept speaking, a dark promise inking into not only his skin, but into every person in the room. “ We find them, and they will die.” 

Stepping down from the podium, Azure watched as the Angeli disappeared in a flash of blinding light, off to wherever he slept when he wasn’t needed. Watching another person come up to the podium, he tuned them out as he felt Archer nudge him with a bony finger. 

“We need to talk.” 

  
  


Getting inside of Archer’s office took a good moment or two as the office was packed with people running around. It was a little surprising to see some of the enforcers who had been called in, some of them were people Azure had only heard of. But they were there, and he couldn’t help but wonder if there was more going on. 

And what this boy meant. 

“Close the door.” Archer groaned as he lowered himself to the chair, Azure hearing the man’s bones pop loudly. At almost sixty, it was honestly a surprise that Archer was still going, and every so often Azure was sure his body would give out on him, what with the sounds the Wizard made when he moved. Closing the door, he slipped himself silently into the chair on the other side of the desk, crossing his ankle over his knees. 

The file was far from his mind now as a new one, a thicker one, was dropped on the desk. Picking it up, he was about to open it up when Gabriel stopped him. 

“We’re assigning you both to this case. Category four.” His fingers froze as every muscle in his body tensed. A category four? Looking up at the man, Azure raised a delicate black eyebrow at the shifter. 

He had to be joking. 

“Why cat four? I haven’t seen one of those since Voldemort.” A shudder went through the air as Acosta spoke, the name of that monster making the air a little colder. Even though England had been the most affected by the tyrant, the states and the council had both felt the effects of his war. 

Azure hadn’t even been ten when the war ended. 

And he had been an enforcer for five years, since he had turned eighteen. Not once had there been anything over two, even if he had heard whispering of the Angeli dealing with a couple of threes a few years ago. But even then, Azure had never dealt with anything above two. 

Why were they being assigned to this?

“The kid in question is a high profile target,” Azure held up a hand as Archer began explaining, interrupting his boss. 

“Why not send Summerton and Clause? They deal with inheritance and binding cases, we don’t. Fuck, Arch, didn’t you just yell at me a few months ago for interfereing with the Loris girl?” The man’s face turned a little pink when Azure mentioned that argument, and Azure could almost feel the man’s fist slamming into his face. 

“Yeah, well, this is too high profile for Summerton and Clause. Plus, Clause is on medical from the Harpy case and won’t be back until the end of next month.” The woman had gotten a chunk of her side ripped out by a newly hatched Harpy, and regrowing organs took a long time. Nodding, he motioned for Archer to keep going, which the man did. “We need you two on this, before the Angeli get involved anymore than they are.” 

God, Azure hated the Angeli. 

Being born from the first light of the universe, Angeli were immortal and sort of dicks. Azure had only met the one, but he could never forget the man’s dead blue eyes and lifeless white hair, telling him to move or be disintegrated. 

At least he had been in a better mood up on the podium. 

“Okay so, what is the angle? We protect the kid while the healers do their thing?” That was what most enforcers who handled inheritance did, and Azure was confused when Archer just shook his head. 

“We need you specifically Azure, kid.. He’s a Nivah.” 

Azure hadn’t heard that word in a long time, not since he was a kid. Not since he had gone through his inheritance. Nivah, such a dirty word, and he felt his skin prickle. 

“Where is he?”


	4. Theodore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WHAT??? Another chapter in one week? Yeah, I've got a few chapters that will be released this week. Or in the next week or so. But for now, enjoy the first time we meet a few characters! Some you know and love, some are my own creations. Be warned there is a kind of mention of arousal, more of a teenage boy freaking out about a woman in his lap. But yeah. Here you go!

The room held nothing important, nothing that would signify a life lived in the dingy three by five space. The only thing that really held any significance was a few bowls that had been shoved into the corner, porridge that had gone uneaten. A few roaches had made quite a feast on what Theodore Nott couldn’t choke down in his delirious state. 

Laying in the other corner, Theo was bunched up into a ball, as he had been for days now. Nothing his house elves had done would allow him to unfurl himself, as the pain had made him tense and achy. The only way he had found to lay that allowed him any relief was almost impossible to perform in the small space. 

“Master needs to eat.” Whimsy brought her hand to the boys forehead, trying her best to ignore the full body flinch that came from the tortured boy. It was harder to ignore the sound of need that came from him after, touch starved as he was, his head tilting to push into the hand. He had never felt pain come from those calloused and thin fingers, his mind supplied, so it was safe to seek touch from them. 

But then Whimsy’s words caught up to him and he pulled back with a whimper, teeth chattering as he shook his head once. Anymore than once and the nausea he had fought off in the last few days would come back to haunt him. Any movement more than what he had done was practically a death sentence for him. 

“Can’t.” He mumbled, a little disappointed in tone as he thought the elf knew why he wouldn’t eat. 

Theo’s father wouldn’t kill him, but he could kill himself. 

Whimsy knew what was going on and it hurt her, but she had been ordered to not tell anyone else about Theo’s plans. And her masters words were law. Not even punishing herself would break the command he had on her, and she had stopped doing so after three days as she hated to see even more pain in the young boys eyes. 

“Whimsy knows. Whimsy wishes the Little Master would eat.” The elf sighed, curling fingers through the oily brown locks and pushing them away from his pale face. He looked sick, and Whimsy knew he was in a way. 

The cruciatus had destroyed what little of him was left inside. 

While the curse could make someone insane, it could also bring about another terrible fate, one that Whimsy had only heard about before she had seen it happen. A total destruction of emotions, not irreversible but very hard to cure, and usually a death sentence for whoever had it done. Because once you had emotions, and then had them taken from you in such a painful fashion, you didn’t really want to live anymore. 

Feeling the tug to go to the front entrance, Whimsy was a little confused, but she knew she needed to go even if they weren’t expecting guests. Popping out after patting his head, she left little Theo alone in the darkness to sleep. 

  
  


And stepped into utter chaos. 

The first thing she noticed was that Lottie, the youngest of the house elves and not yet in service to the house, was being held by the Lady healer Malfoy, the womans long black and white hair a mess. In fact, it was obvious that she had been sleeping and had had her sleep interrupted. 

The Master Snape looked no better from where he had Whimsy’s Master pinned against the wall, his hand wrapped around the man's throat. 

“Where is he?” Snape growled, the demon beast inside of his chest burning as he got frighteningly close to the whimpering wizard. God, Snape would love to rip his tongue out, watching it squirm as the man’s mouth fell open and shut as he tried to think of a response. The response didn’t really matter, Snape knew where Theo would be. But it was nice to work out the rage now before his son’s friend saw him in such a state. 

After all, he didn’t know how damaged Theodore would be after being left in the dark for weeks. 

“I don’t know!” Deciding he didn’t like the truthful answer, he pulled him from the wall and slammed him back with a little of the immortal strength his inheritance had granted him. And boy, did he enjoy the wheeze that came from the blueing lips of his one time friend. 

“Enough.” Hearing his wife, Snape stepped back immediately, the need to obey his submissive like a house elf obeying a master. Dropping his head down, he gave the beautifully rumpled woman a smile as she glided past to take his place, her wand now digging into the temple of the Lord Nott. “ _ Revelare. _ ”

And Severus Snape had never been more attracted to her right then, the fire in her eyes as she pulled memory after memory from the screaming man. Soon, that fire dimmed and a glazed over look took over her beautiful face. She was watching every memory the man had, sorting through them before cutting the connection with a sharp gasp, her wand falling to the floor. 

“Kill him.” She hissed, those grey blue eyes turning as cold as steel as she whirled around and picked up her fallen wand. Looking towards where Whimsy was hidden, she motioned to her. “Take me to him, now elf.” 

Whimsy didn’t even fight the grin that crossed her face as she led the woman away, listening with glee as her old Master screams gurgled into nothing. 

  
  


Theo didn’t know where he was, but it was nice. In the air wasn’t stifling and there was actual heat coming from the ground where he laid. For a moment, he could feel the sun on his skin again, something he had missed so much. 

Longing. How long had it been since he had missed or longed for anything? Theo couldn’t really remember the last time he had wanted anything other than to just die. But here he was, laying in what could only be grass, the warmth of the sun on his skin. 

For a long time, he stayed like this, eyes slowly opening to stare at the sky. He knew immediately that he couldn’t be at the Nott manor, because the sky was the most perfect blue. He had never seen such a beautiful color, his hand shaking as he reached up to the sky, seeing the contrast of his pale skin. 

And her black as night one. 

The other hand that came to envelope his was definitely female, dainty with slim fingers. The tips were painted silver and gold, not just the nail but the whole tip as if she had dipped them into pots of ink. It was the only color he could see as his eyes traveled across her body to where she laid next to him, draped across the ground like some sort of greek goddess. 

And she might as well have been. 

Her skin wasn’t just black or dark, it was an utter absence of color. For a moment, he wondered if someone splashed a bit of silver and gold across her like the spray from a bottle, would she look like the night sky? Stars glittering on her perfect skin? He knew he would never know, not really since a being like her could not exist except in his mind. 

And this assuredly was inside his head. 

“Hello.” He couldn’t help but to be startled by his own voice, how timid he sounded. This was not how he was, not even in the face of his Father’s wrath did he cower. But his shoulders hunched inwards as he stared at her, curling up a little as he turned to face her, their hands still connected. 

“Hello Theo.” Oh god, Theo had never heard something so smooth. Like lotion over his dry skin, burning and he wanted more. He wanted to be drenched in the voice that suddenly let out a small laugh, as if she knew his thoughts. 

And perhaps, she did know them. 

“Where am I?” He had to know, because maybe he was dead. Maybe this was heaven, or maybe really not since this being next to him oozed danger and power the longer he looked. He just hoped he hadn’t earned himself a place in Hell. 

He’d had enough pain in his life. 

“The plain. A place between.” She said it as if he should have known this, and he could almost hear the word ‘Silly’ at the end of her sentence, even if it was unsaid. Lips twitching up into a smile that revealed white teeth and a wet pink tongue, Theo knew that she could hear his thoughts. 

That was frightening. 

“Don’t be scared. I won’t hurt you here.” Just here, he thought, as she finished speaking. That wasn’t much of a promise, but it was the only one he had at the moment and the Slytherin in him was finally making an appearance as he straightened on the ground. 

“What do you want with me?” His voice was stronger, which he was proud of. He would not cower anymore, forcing his shoulders back. 

“Hmm, such a question, Theo.” His name dripped from her lips and she let go of his hand, leaving him a little off balanced. He wanted to keep touching her, wanted more than anything to keep that small hand in his own. But he didn’t reach for her, watching her with hooded eyes as she stretched not unlike that of a cat. 

She was beautiful, even if her features were blurred in the utter absence of light one her face. 

“Well, does the question have an answer?” He pushed, even if every bit of his being was telling him not to. Maybe pushing this dark creature of night was not the best idea, he used some of the Gryffindor side he hid from the world to gather up the courage to push. 

“Yes.” She purred, rolling until she wasn’t just on her stomach, but actually on top of him. This was the first time he had ever been so close to a woman before, and for a moment, panic filled him as he felt himself get hard. 

He was a teenager, and this was a situation he did not want to be in. 

Hands grabbing at her waist, he listened to her giggle as he tried to lift her off of him. But she was heavier than she looked, a good deal heavier and he couldn’t keep his hardening member from pressing against her thigh, a delicate eyebrow arching at him. Oh he wanted to die then, but not for the usual reasons. 

He was utterly mortified. 

“Please. Can you get off?” He didn’t really want to have to beg, but he figured he might have to when his pleading made her throw her head back and laugh. 

“What? Do you not like this body?” The way she said this body had his heart racing in a mixture of pleasurable fear, because did that mean that this wasn’t her body? Feeling her skin moving under his finger tips, he gasped as she kept talking, even as her body changed. “Maybe this one is more your style.” 

Harry Potter was in his lap, Theo staring dumbly at the subject of his affections straddled him. Despite the knowledge that this was not him, he relaxed, his cheeks pinkening at the thought of this even happening in the real world. But then, he tensed all over again as he took in the differences between his Harry and this one. 

This one was broken. Where her arms had once been loosely hanging to the side as she straddled him, they were now cradled to her chest, broken in multiple places. His face, or her face, was bruised and bloody, nose almost as bad as when Harry had taken a bludger to it during a rather rough game of Quidditch. The worst, and the bruise that had Theo sitting up to gather the boy/girl in his arms, was the bruise in the shape of fingers around his throat. 

“What happened to you?” He wondered if he had not been able to see the damage to her body due to the darkness of her skin, but she hadn’t seemed hurt. This Harry did as a small hiss left the body in his arms as he cradled it, bringing the smaller males head to his chest. “Harry.” 

“You care for our Harry.” The voice coming from Harry’s body was wrong, all wrong, but Theo couldn’t stop hugging the boy. This was probably his only chance to ever do it, and he was taking the chance. Even if he would regret it later. 

“Yes. Of course I do. He is amazing.” That was selling it short, but Theo didn’t want to start going on and on about Harry. Draco did that enough. 

“You would protect our Harry.” Her voice was small, and for a second, he could hear Harry’s voice mixed in with hers. It was beautiful, innocent and sweet. 

Wrong. So utterly wrong. 

“With everything I am. Why.. Why do you look like this? Is Harry okay?” Finally he got the strength to pull back from her, to look at the mockery of his crush’s face. Tears glistened in the green eyes he loved, and he wiped a thumb across his cheek to catch one. 

What had happened? 

“He is dying. Our Harry is dying, alone in the arms of strangers who we do not know if we can trust. You are dying as well, Theo. Slowly, surely, the poison of that curse will kill you. But, you love our Harry.” Theo knew every word she spoke was the truth, some of it he had already known. He had known he was dying, and that he probably wouldn’t live to graduate Hogwarts. 

If his Father didn’t kill him, Theo would have ended his own life. 

“Why? Why is he dying? Who hurt him?” It surprised him how strong his voice came out, even with the flash of warning in the eyes staring at him. He had to calm down some, to remember that this was not his Harry. This was still the almost feral girl with dark skin who had somehow shape shifted into Harry. 

“He was hurt by the old one long ago, the hurt was not something we could fix. This hurt infected the ones he was given to. Infected and corrupted, they hurt him.” Shifting, he watched as the darkness started to ooze back out across her skin, her body changing again. “Tonight, the ones who were infected tried to kill our Harry. But the Lycan woman found him, brought him to her home. She now calls for the woman who comes to where you dwell.” 

“Lucretia? My step mom? Why would they want that bint? She’s useless.” Theo knew she wasn’t really useless, but if Harry needed someone it would be a healer. And Lucretia Nott was not a healer at all. 

“Not her, the other, who cares for the son of Silver.” Son of Silver? Draco, the answer echoed through his head as he nodded. Of course, it would be Draco, the Son of SIlver fit the male perfectly, with the way he looked. Not to mention his Veela form, which Theo had had the displeasure of seeing a few times in his life. 

Which meant this girl was talking about Lady Malfoy, who was the best healer in all of England. 

“Is Lady Malfoy at my house?” A frustrated growl came from the being in his lap, and suddenly he was on his back with a hand on his chest as she snarled at him. Holding up his hands, he tried to hunch inwards, to make himself seem less like a threat to her. “Go on, I’ll shut up.” 

“The one who comes needs to heal our Harry. She needs to heal him and bring him to the house where Darkness, Silver, and Fire meet.” The Snape-Malfoy household was the only place he could think of that fit that description. Darkness would be the professor, fire for Lady Malfoy’s Dragimi heritage, and Silver for Lord Malfoy. 

And for Draco. 

“There he will need to be protected until the Wraith and the one who bathed in blood comes for him. They must not take him, and the Wraith will try. Many will try. But he must stay with the Son of Silver and you Theo. He must stay until the eight are assembled and I am free.” Curling her hands into his shirt, Theo felt all of the air woosh out of him as she lifted him up and slammed him back down. 

It hurt, but fuck was he now listening intently to her next words. 

“When the eight come together, son of silver, two of fire, one of earth, one of blood, and one whose binds are broken, all shall be put right. All shall be made whole.” Counting in his head, he watched as she moved off of him, slinking away slowly. 

“Wait, that is only seven. Who is the eighth?” Turning to look at him, she gave him a small disappointed look, and it was only then that he got it, his cheeks burning. “Me. I’m the eighth.” 

“No. Theo. You are the first.”


	5. Under the water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry wakes up to a new situation, and takes it well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be out today as well!

Underneath the cover of water, Harry could hear everything. 

And he knew how wrong the world was. 

For one, he was under water, when he was sure he had gone to bed in his room just earlier that night. Waking up in strange places was new, not that his life hadn’t thrown him curve balls like this before. But nothing like this. And that wasn’t the only thing that was wrong. 

Harry wasn’t in pain anymore. The pain that seemed to stick to him like an old friend was gone as well. Even the ache in his bones had completely vanished, leaving behind just the barest wonder at how amazing it felt to be free. Pain had been with him for so long he hadn’t known what it was like to be without it. 

He almost dreaded when it would come back. 

Because it always did. The few times he could remember where every waking second wasn’t agony were brief and a little jarring. And they never lasted long, maybe just a few minutes. But Harry had been laying underwater for what seemed like hours, and the pain had yet to come back. It was a cruel torture, one he didn’t even know existed. 

“He is healing nicely.” That voice floated in and out sometimes, and Harry honestly loved it. He loved the smooth staccato, just like he loved the baritone voice of the male who sometimes spoke. Both of those voices were ones he knew, even if he couldn’t remember who they belonged to. “We can wake him up in a day or two.” 

A day or two. Harry knew he had been under the water for a long time, but hearing that made him realize that maybe it had been longer than a few hours. Afterall, he had listened to plenty of conversations during that time. 

Like the one between the strangers who made his very soul ache, the woman and man who argued like cat and dog. And the other male who seemed to soothe them. He soothed Harry to, sometimes making this noise that made Harry want to make it back. It was a sort of animalistic noise that Harry had heard only a few times in the halls of Hogwarts. 

Oh god, Hogwarts. 

If he had been in the water for longer than he had thought he had, then had he missed the train to Hogwarts? He couldn’t imagine that it had been that long, but he had also thought that it had only been a few hours. Shifting underneath a little, he tried his best to open his eyes, as he had done plenty of times before, only to feel a sharp tug in the back of his mind pull him back under. 

_ “Calm Harry. A few more days and you will be healed.” _

That voice was new, and also old. When he had first woken up in the water, he had heard her speaking, her voice like ink spreading across his skin like he was made of parchment. The other voices never reacted to her words, so he assumed she was in his head, and that they wouldn’t be able to hear her. It was kind of nice to be the only to hear her, even if he worried that maybe she was proof that he was going insane. 

She was his, nonetheless. 

Harry didn’t want to wait another few days, though. And with little wiggle in the hold, he tried to push himself up towards the surface of the water. Both in the actual physical liquid that surrounded him and the foggy thing holding his mind down. Immediately, the jaws of the thing inside of him clamped down and shoved him further into the smoke and liquid, the fight going out of him like a match that had been doused. 

Damnit. 

  
  


It was days before Harry woke up again, and he knew it. For one, his whole body now ached from disuse, the need to get up and go to the bathroom edging in agony by the time he was able to open his eyes and groan. 

Which wasn’t that lovely. 

Blinking against the light, he took in the room he was in, wondering when the hell he had gone to some rich person's house. The castle around him was beautiful, the walls stone with posters hanging from random places in the room. They were all tasteful, unlike some of the posters that Ron had collected as a teenager. There was no doubt about how old the occupant of the room was, not when Harry could see a few texts on a bookshelf that were from the last year he’d had at Hogwarts. Specifically Lockharts novels that had been assigned to the second years specifically. 

Whoever owned this room was a second year with him, and Harry also figured they were a Slytherin. There was too much green and silver to be a student of any other house, his fingers picking at the duvet that had been draped over his lap as he slept. 

There were only a handful of Slytherin boys in his year, and he immediately knocked off three of them. Crabb and Goyle were slobs, he knew this for a fact and looking around the room proved to him that whoever this was, they surely were not a slob. The next person he checked off the list was Theodore Nott. He actually knew Theo from potions and a few other classes, and knew that Theo hated Quidditch. 

Which meant the posters could not belong to him. 

Analyzing the room, Harry didn’t register the door opening, nor it shutting. The figure who had come in noticed his obliviousness, and gently lifted their hand to their lips before coughing into it. That did the trick as Harry went on the defence, his body tensing as he looked up at the woman in black and white who stood there with a kind smile. 

Narcrissa Malfoy didn’t want to scare the boy after all. 

Looking this lady up and down, Harry knew he had seen her before, the inkling an irritating itch in the back of his mind. As she walked a little further into the room and started to pull potion bottle after potion bottle from her robes, he realized he had seen the curve of her cheek and her nose someplace else. 

After all, he had been up close and personal with the boy who had both. 

“You’re Draco’s mum.” His voice was hoarse from what he didn’t know, all he knew was that it sounded like he was screaming. 

He had been. Narcrissa would never forget how he screamed when she had first gotten to Declan’s manor. The entire mateship had been in the room with such severe faces that she had thought for a moment that someone had died. Or if the message she had gotten was any clue, someone was dying. 

**“I tried to heal him, and gods I don’t know what happened. I just tried to heal his arm more than I already had.”**

“Yes I am. And you, Harry James Potter, are in his room. For the time being.” Harry couldn’t help but shift uncomfortably as his worst fear turned out to be true. So this was Draco’s room, and he wondered when the great blond prat would be around to make his life miserable. “Draco is in France for another few weeks, until a day or so before you all will leave for Hogwarts.”

A few weeks until they left for Hogwarts, he felt some part of him relax as he realized that he hadn’t missed the train back. That there was still a chance to go back. 

_ “You will never go back to Hogwarts Harry. Not if we have anything to say about it.” _

Ignoring the voice, he smiled politely at the woman as she kept pulling things from the folds of her robe. As the fabric moved, he noticed she was in fact actually pulling them from a hidden satchel, and after seeing a book come from the tiny thing, he determined that it would be something worth telling Hermione about. 

“Why am I here, Ma’am?” Looking up at him, she gave him a small smile, one of those ones he had seen Mrs. Weasley give her sons every so often. Affection wasn’t something he was used to though and all he did was shift on the bed. 

“You’ve been hurt, Harry. A friend of mine was passing by the place where you dwell during the summers and heard you cry out. She was able to save you in time and brought you to me for healing. Unfortunately, it seems like there was some.. Damage.” Damage? What did she mean by that? The question was answered fairly quickly as she held out a potion, the liquid inside something he recognized almost immediately as Skellegrow. 

She held it just out of reach, but he still tried. 

As Harry reached out, he noticed a few things all at once. One, he was shaking. Horrible full body quakes that left him gasping as he realized he couldn’t grasp the bottle as his hand reached it. He couldn’t even touch it at first, concentrating with small puffs of air coming from his clenched teeth. The other thing was that he was pale, paler than he ever had been and that was saying something. He had always had a problem getting any sort of tan, but this was going into what he assumed was vampire territory. 

The last thing he noticed was that he was hungry, but not like he ever had been before. No this hunger wasn’t for food, he knew that almost immediately, because the moment his fingers touched hers, it went away. A crushing sort of relief filled him to the brim as instead of trying for the bottle, he wrapped his long fingers around her wrist, a noise tumbling out of him. Pulling her hand closer, she allowed it, helped even as her fingers brushed his cheek. 

It was all Narcrissa could do to keep from crying as the boy trilled at her. 

It was all she could do to keep from killing those who hurt him and caused this angel of a boy to be so touch starved. 

Looking at his fingers that wavered in the air, he tried to close his hand, feeling the tightening in his muscles as he tried. Tried being the keyword as his hand refused to cooperate, his eyes widening in panic as he tried again. 

And again. 

“Wha-what happened?!” He sobbed, his hand falling as he brought it to his chest. Nacrissa simply watched the boy as he worked through his emotions, her eyes watering. She had never been as good a Slytherin as either of her Mates, and as a Mother, she couldn’t stand the pain of a child.

But Goddess, this was so much worse. 

“Mrs. Malfoy, what happened to me?” Harry cried out when she didn’t answer, looking up at her with wide watering green eyes. For a second she saw another person, a crying woman who held a son in her arms as she hugged Narcrissa goodbye. 

_ We have to hide, Cissa. Promise me you’ll take care of Sev and Lucius. Goddess knows they will need it after we’re gone.  _

Narcrissa hadn’t thought about that day in a long time. And she wouldn’t let herself think about it now, reaching forward to start to clean the tears from the boys cheek like any Mother would have done. 

“You were hurt by someone, darling.” She kept her voice as steady as she could with the emotions running through her. Bringing the potion to his lips, she cooed softly like she did whenever Draco had to take medicine. “Just a sip. That’s all.” 

Harry didn’t stop crying when she cleaned him up, but her touch helped him not be quite so hysterical. Opening his mouth, he took a sip of the potion as instructed, something inside of him bubbling up as he blanched at the taste. God, that was awful, and he swallowed the slimy potion as quickly as he could. 

“Good boy. Now, you don’t worry about a thing, love. Everyone in the manor will take care of you.” She didn’t want to overwhelm the poor boy, but she also didn’t want to leave him alone with his thoughts. She could see them running around in his head, and she didn’t like the look in his eyes. 

Truthfully, Harry was glad when she sat down in the chair next to the bed, her robes billowing out around her as she pulled a book from her bag. Other than in school, he had never been read to, so when she started to read from the children’s book, he couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face. 

It was like having a real mum for once. 


	6. Caroline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry meets the one who saved him.

Narcrissa was Harry’s only companion for almost a week. 

He knew there were others, he heard their voices on the other side of Draco’s heavy oak door. Two males, one with a voice like the grave and the other with a voice deep and melodic, and a female, whose voice twirled around his head and made him ache in new and mysterious ways. He knew he didn’t know the ones who lingered outside, he would have remembered these voices if he had, but for once in Harry’s life, he wasn’t afraid of the unknown. 

Harry knew that Narcrissa wouldn’t hesitate to protect him if she had to, even from her own husband, or so she had vowed. But that hadn’t come up yet, as Lucius left the day after Harry woke up to see Draco, a journey that Harry could tell Narcrissa had wanted to go on. She missed her son, Harry could see the longing in her eyes whenever she looked around the room and at the bed Harry had been confined to. 

He tried his best to keep her company, and to not make things harder than they had to be. 

During the day, she was there with him, reading to him or making him stretch. His whole still shook, but everyday it became easier to get out of Draco’s bed and walk. Feeling like an ancient man, Harry was glad that on the sixth day of his being awake that he could go to the bathroom on his own. It had been embarrassing enough having her magic away the contents of his bowels every time he had to go pee. 

Harry preferred going the natural way. 

“Do not walk to the bathroom on your own. If it really is an emergency then please call Dobby.” Narcrissa pleaded when he finally started getting up on his own. It wasn’t a horrible thing to ask of him if he was honest, he still wasn’t completely steady on his feet. 

“I won’t Ma’am.” She gave him a brilliant smile when he promised, one that made his whole body warm. She had endeared herself to him in a very short amount of time, almost like Mrs. Weasley had. 

Thinking of the Weasley’s hurt, after all he hadn’t received a letter from them in the entire time he had been with the Malfoy’s. For a moment, after Narcrissa had left for the night on that sixth day, he had been speculated that maybe they were keeping his mail from him. But that thought was squashed firmly as he remembered he had gotten a letter from Hermione just that morning. And if he got one from Hermione then there was no reason that he couldn’t get one from any of the family he had begun to call his own. 

There was no reason to not get a letter from them. 

  
  


One the seventh day of Harry being awake, the routine he had become accustomed to changed. Normally, when his eyes opened for the day, he would be greeted by a female house elf who squeaked anytime Harry said hello, or inquired about her name. She was a shy thing, who he learned was called Fennel, and normally she left him his breakfast. 

But on that day, when his eyes opened and he rubbed the sleep from them, he noticed that Fennel was not the one holding his tray, in fact it wasn’t a house elf at all. 

It was a woman. 

For a moment, Harry was struck with how beautiful this woman was, her blond hair pulled up out of her angular face, only the barest whisps falling into her blue eyes. Something blossomed in his chest as he watched her set down the tray, her lips pulled into an awkward smile as she saw he was awake. He could tell from the way her eyes darted to the door that she hadn’t meant to wake him up, or to get caught in his room. 

“Who are you?” Harry asked with a voice rough from sleep. Sitting up with only a little difficulty, he watched her take a step forward to help, stopping just shy of actually doing so. She was a big ball of awkwardness, Harry noticed, reminding him of Neville in the way she moved. 

Like she wasn’t comfortable in her own skin at the moment. 

“Caroline.” That voice sent a round of lightning though his body, Harry quickly sitting up further as his eyes widened. It was the voice from beyond the door, one of three he had never met. 

The one that made him long for something he had never had. 

“You’ve been outside my door.” She nodded at his statement, as if it was a question. Harry was glad she didn’t deny it, as it made things easier for him as he kept talking. “Do I know you? Why are you bringing me food and not Fennel?” 

“You… You don’t know me Harry. But I am the one who brought you to the Malfoys.” She had saved his life, he knew that was what she had meant. But why did she stay around? Maybe to check up on him, his eyes narrowing a little as an almost natural defense came up. 

Be wary of everyone now, because he didn’t know who would end up betraying him. 

“Why? Why did you save me?” The question seemed to startle her, her eyes meeting his. In those blue depths was something that made Harry grow restless, a sort of feral animal look that had the hairs on his arms sticking up. 

A prey’s natural reaction to a predator. 

But as soon as it had swept over him, it was gone with the noise that slipped from her. A sort of unrestrained whine, an answering noise coming from his chest as if by instinct. The noise baffled Harry, he had never made a noise like that before. He didn’t even know he was capable of doing so. 

“What was that?” He demanded after a few seconds, and Carolines smile widened. 

“That was a signal. People like us, Harry, can signal to other’s using sounds much like the one you made.” Signal, he knew what that was. Despite how awful a teacher Lockhart had been, he had taught some useful things. 

Like what signaling was. 

“But only creatures can do…” His voice trailed off as his skin paled. Creature. Only creatures could make the noise she had made, that he had made. Thinking back, he had made those noises with Narcrissa as well, multiple times. “I’m a creature?” 

Another noise came from him then, a sound of distress that had Caroline moving to sit next to him, her hands hovering over him as she tried to calm him down. But panic gripped him tight as his breathing quickly dissolved into panting. How could he be a creature?

He was just Harry. 

But he wasn’t, he never had been, had he? His entire life he had been more than that, and why was this any different than finding out he was a wizard? Or that he had defeated one of the most powerful Dark Lords when he was just a baby? No, this was just a new thing added to the weirdness of his life. 

He could get over this. 

Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to stop hyperventilating and to calm down. But it took a few seconds, and by the time he had calmed down, the door had opened again and another new person had slid in. 

“What have you done to the boy?” It was one the ones who had lingered outside, Harry realized as he looked up at the man. He was all sophistication and grace as he moved towards them, and Harry was shocked when the man didn’t even hesitate in touching him, his cold hand carding through his unruly hair. 

For a moment, Harry blanched back, unsure why this stranger was touching him, but then this new weird part of his body leaned in and signaled to the man. With a smile, the cold man kept petting him, a deep rumble coming from his chest. 

“Calm love. Just calm. We don’t want to wake up the whole manor with your distress.” There was something in his voice, a lyrical hypnosis that pulled the panic that lingered in Harry's body and made it go away. 

“I.. I can’t be a creature.” His voice wavered, and it took Harry a few seconds to register the gathering wetness on his cheeks. The tears came quietly, slipping down his skin in a trail of his disbelief. The man didn’t really say anything, the continuing rumbling making Harry stay calm. “I can’t be. I’m just Harry.” 

It was funny, saying it then. Both times had been to men he didn’t know, comforting him in a time that was scary and confusing. But unlike Hagrid, this strange cold being couldn’t look to his relatives for answers, and there was no Dudley to make him laugh. 

“You can Harry. You are. But it is not the end of the world, there are many who have creature blood.” Moving his hand, the man sat next to him and sighed, as if the explanation he was about to give troubled him. Which as soon as he opened his mouth, Harry could tell why.” I, myself, am a Vampire. A born one, not cursed, so you have no fear of me, child.” 

“And I am a Lycan, or a werewolf as some may call me. But like Henry here, I was born. Not cursed.” The woman, Caroline, was quick to add the last part as Harry began to try and move away. Another deep noise came from Henry’s chest. 

“What am I then?” It was an expected question to have, especially when learning that he wasn’t as human as he had been led to believe. “And why am I now just being told?” 

There was hesitation that both seemed to be plagued by, a brief glance to the other that spoke volumes to Harry. Something was up, more than him being a creature, and if Harry had ever gambled before, he would gamble right then it had to do with him not being told. 

“Tell me.” 


End file.
